Selective pitter for fruits of the drupe type

ABSTRACT

Apparatus and methods are described for pitting fruit of the drupe type, in which fruit having sound pits are torque pitted and fruit having split pits are spoon pitted. A coring spoon is spaced from the pit gripping portion of the fruit bisecting blades with spoon pitting being accomplished by moving the blades and coring spoon through the fruit and betwen the halves of the split pit to move the fruit gripping portions of the blade away from the split pit and bring the coring spoon adjacent the pit for cutting a core, including the split pit, from the fruit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the field of methods and apparatusfor pitting fruits of the drupe type. More particularly, it relates toapparatus for selectively torque pitting such fruit having sound pitsand for automatically and selectively spoon pitting such fruit havingsplit pits, irrespective of the order in which fruit having sound pitsand fruit having split pits are presented to the pitting station.

The most common method and apparatus used in pitting fruits of the drupetype, such as peaches, apricots and the like, provide for torque pittingthe fruit. In this technique the fruit body halves are substantiallybisected and the pit is gripped against rotation while the fruit bodyhalves are rotated relative to and about an axis extending through thepit, thus twisting the fruit body havles free of the pit. However, it isnot uncommon for some of the fruit presented to the pitting station tohave unsound or split pits, these fruits being intermingled with othersuch fruit having sound pits. If the torque pitting technique is usedwith fruit having a split pit, generally all that is accomplished is thebisecting of the fruit and its split pit into two halves and thenpassing the fruit body halves with their attached pit halves ontosubsequent stations where these fruit body halves must be repitted witha coring spoon to remove the split pit halves.

One seemingly obvious solution to the problem is use a spoon pittingmachine to cut a core including the split pit from each of the fruitspresented, regardless of whether the fruit has a split or sound pit.However, since a spoon pitting machine must necessarily cut a core fromeach fruit at least as large as the largest pit anticipated, itnecessarily removes some of the pulp, or meat, adjacent the pit in orderthat it may stay clear of the pit itself. This causes a loss of salablefruit pulp from fruit having sound pits, which loss would not occur hadtorque pitting been used. Various compromise solutions to this problemhave been attempted by canners. One such solution has been the provisionof separate torque pitting and spoon pitting lines in the canneries withbatches of fruits suspected of having a high incidence of split pitsbeing processed along the spoon pitting line and all other fruit beingprocessed along the torque pitting line. This compromise has beenunsatisfactory both in its requirement for different sets of torquepitting and spoon pitting equipment, some of which may lie idle if fruithaving split pits or sound pits is not available. Additionally, therelikely will remain the requirement for spoon pitting the stillsubstantial number of split pit fruit processed along the torque pittingline.

An improvement over the initial compromise may be found by usingequipment similar to that disclosed in Brown U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,591 inwhich a single machine may be configured to operate in a torque pittingmode or, by appropriate modification, to operate in the spoon pittingmode. The apparatus of Brown thus reduces the necessity for separatetypes of equipment. However, the Brown apparatus operates continuouslyin the selected one of the two modes, regardless of whether the fruitpresented has split or sound pits, until the processing line is shutdown and the machine altered to operate continuously in the other mode.Thus, this Brown apparatus may still attempt torque pitting on fruithaving split pits or may spoon pit a substantial number of fruit havingsound pits, an inefficient procedure in either condition.

A further advance has been effected by the selective pitting apparatusof Spence U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,675, in which a single pitting apparatusdetects the presence of split or sound pits and adjusts the apparatusaccordingly. Thus, with the Spence apparatus fruit having sound pits maybe torque pitted, to reduce the loss of available fruit pulp, whilefruit having split pits would generally be spoon pitted, as required. Bythe provision of such selective apparatus the unnecessary and wastefulduplication of equipment may be reduced and a substantially higher yieldof properly pitted fruit obtained. However, even when the Spenceapparatus is in its spoon pitting mode, it requires that the fruithalves be rotated through a full circle relative to a stationary coringknife and about an axis normal to the plane of the fruit suture, aprocedure which may both tear the pulp of the fruit and may also cut thecore substantially larger than necessary for removal of the pit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide a drupe pitting method and apparatus inwhich the fruit presented may be selectively torque pitted or spoonpitted as required by the apparent soundness or unsoundness of its pit.It is a further object of this invention to achieve such pitting with aminimum loss of edible fruit pulp.

To achieve the foregoing as well as other objects, a method andapparatus are provided for selective pitting of drupes having eithersound or unsound pits. This method and apparatus provides for presentingand supporting the fruit at a single pitting station with its suturesubstantially in a predetermined plane, substantially bisecting the bodyof the fruit in that plane and moving opposed pit gripping means to thebody of the fruit in the plane toward the edges of the pit. If the pitis sound, the pit gripping means grip the pit and hold it againstrotation while the halves of the fruit body are rotated relative to thepit to shear the fruit body halves from the sound pit. If the pit issplit, as indicated by movement of the pit gripping means past the pitgripping position into the pit, the pit gripping means are shifted awayfrom the pit and through the fruit body to bring a coring spoon, whichis spaced from the pit gripping means, into a position in the planewhich is adjacent the split pit. Then the coring spoon is rotated aboutan axis extending through the split pit such that the coring spoonrotation describes a body of revolution and cuts a core, including thesplit pit, corresponding to the body of revolution from the fruithalves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial front perspective view of the apparatus of thisinvention and of one form of apparatus suitable for practicing themethod of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1illustrating the fruit body bisecting blades shifted to bring the coringspoon into position for spoon pitting a drupe;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation, partially in phantom, of the apparatus ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view, taken along line 4--4 of the apparatusof FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view, taken along line 5--5, of a portion ofthe apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view, corresponding to FIG. 5, with thecutting blades shifted to the spoon pitting position;

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of the cam and pneumatic systemarrangement of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a timing diagram of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary side sectional view, similar to FIG. 5, butshowing the apparatus in its pit gripping configuration for torquepitting; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary front elevation illustrating the operation ofthe gripper heads for torque pitting a fruit having a sound pit.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A particularly preferred embodiment for practicing the teachings of thisinvention is illustrated in the drawings. This apparatus may suitablycomprise a modification of the torque pitting apparatus disclosed inU.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 822,669 filed Aug. 8, 1977, in the nameof Jesus Antonio Silvestrini and owned by the assignee of the presentinvention. Additionally incorporated in this apparatus is the fruitsensing structure of my co-pending application entitled "Improved DrupePitting Machine Having Apparatus for Preventing Deformation of the FruitGripping Structure When the Machine is Operated With no Fruit Present,"and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Since the presentassignee is the owner of both of these prior and co-pendingapplications, the entire disclosures of those two applications areincorporated herein by reference. Substantial portions of thoseco-pending prior applications, such as the detailed configuration andoperation of the gripper heads and of the fruit sensing apparatus, whichform no direct portion of the present invention, have been omitted fromthe illustrations and from this detailed description in order to clarifythe subject matter of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, this apparatus comprises, in general, a motor2 which is connected by a belt, not shown but behind guard 4, to gearbox and cam housing 6 in which various cams and gears are contained forproviding the necessary mechanical action to the apparatus. The gear boxand remainder of the pitter is mounted on a frame 8, a fragment of whichis shown. Extending out from the upper portion of the gear box 6 is thesupport 10 to which are pivotally mounted the gripper head arms 12 and14 and the gripper head rotating bell crank 16. Adjacent the lowermostextremities of each of the gripper head arms 12 and 14 are therespective fruit body gripper head assemblies, generally indicated bythe reference numerals 18 and 20. Disposed between the two gripper headassemblies 18 and 20 is upper blade assembly 22 and movable lower bladeassembly 24. A cup feeder 26 is pivotally mounted by shaft 27 to theframe 8 for movement toward and away from jaw assemblies 22 and 24. Abell crank 32, pivotally mounted to and driven by the gear box 6, isconnected by an upper push rod 34 to pivotally mounted gripper head arm14 and by lower push rod 36 to the other pivotally mounted gripper headarm 12. Thus, the clockwise rotation of the bell crank 32 will serve topivot the two arms 12 and 14 to bring the gripper head assemblies 18 and20 together, with counterclockwise rotation of the bell crank 32 movingthose gripper heads apart.

As shown in FIG. 1 and more clearly in FIG. 3, a crank arm 28, alsopivotally mounted to and driven by the gear box 6, has a pair ofprojections 29 at its outer end, one of which projections rides in aslot 30 adjacent the end of linkage member 38. This linkage member 38 ispivotally connected to a downwardly extending arm 40 of bell crank 16.Pivotally mounted to a portion of the linkage member 38 intermediate theslot 30 and the connection to the arm 40 is a latching link 42. Thislatching link 42 is pivotally mounted at one end to the arm 38 andcontains a cut-out adjacent its opposite end, such cut-out beingdimensioned and configured to fit around the projections 29 of the crankarm 28. An actuator, such as air cylinder 44 serves to pivot the link 42about its pivotal connection, in a manner and for a purpose to bedescribed below.

The jaw or blade assemblies 22 and 24 are best illustrated in the sidesectional views of FIGS. 4-6. The upper blade assembly comprisesgenerally cutting and pit gripping blade 46 rigidly affixed to mountingarm 48, which in turn is pivotally mounted to the pitting apparatuschassis by shaft 50. The cutting blade 46 includes on its forward andlower portions sharpened cutting surfaces 52, including a plurality ofpit gripping teeth 54.

Immediately adjacent and behind blade 46 is coring spoon support 56,which suitably is of metal plate material similar to that of the blade46 and also is rigidly affixed to support 48. Along the lowermost edgeof the coring spoon support 56 is provided a groove which rotatablyreceives the shaft 58 of coring spoon 60. Coring spoon 60, asillustrated, is generally U-shaped with shaft portions 58 and 62extending outwardly from the ends of the legs of the U. Shaft portion 62is rotatably received into a journal formed within blade 46 adjacent theaperture within which the spoon 60 is housed. By the support of theshaft 58 in the groove on support 56 and the bearing portion 62 withinthe journal in blade 46, the spoon is thus supported for rotation aboutan axis extending generally transverse to the legs of the U. The end ofshaft 58 remote from the spoon 60 is received into a bearing mount 64.On the opposite side of bearing mount 64 a sprocket is mounted to theshaft 58, which sprocket engages drive chain 66 which is also receivedabout a sprocket 68 which, in turn, is mounted to a shaft 70 extendingthrough housing 72 and driven by a suitable rotary actuator 78, whichmay be pneumatically operated and mounted to the back end of housing 72.Both the bearing support 64, and the housing 72 with actuator 78 arerigidly connected to supports 80, which are rigidly joined together bycross members 79 and 81 and are thus affixed to the upper blade support48 and which are similarly supported for pivoting motion about shaft 50,in a manner to be described below.

The lower blade or jaw assembly 24 includes lower blade 82 having asharpened cutting edge 84 with a plurality of pit gripping teeth 85.This lower blade 82 is rigidly affixed to blade mount 86, which in turnis rigidly affixed to or integral with actuating arm 88. The outer endof actuating arm 88 is connected by control rod 90 through aspring-biased lost motion linkage 92 to crank arm 94, which is driven bythe gear and cam assembly in a manner to be described below. A pitknocker 96 extending parallel to the upper blade 46 is also attached tothe upper end of actuating arm 88.

The respective blade assemblies are capable of two different modes ofmovement. In a first mode the upper blade assembly 22 remains stationarywhile clockwise pivoting of the crank arm 94 moves control rod 90 andthus control arm 88 to pivot the lower blade 82 and its mounting 86toward the upper blade 46 in the manner indicated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

A seccond type of movement of the blade assembly is illustrated in FIG.6 in which the lower blade assembly 24 has been pivoted into closeproximity with the upper blade assembly 22, and then both bladeassemblies together have been pivotally moved a predetermined amount ina counterclockwise direction about shaft 50. This second mode ofpivoting is effected under control of the rotary cam assembly 98 andassociated linkages in the following manner.

Cam follower arm 100, pivotally mounted to shaft 102 which is mounted tothe pitter chassis, carries at the end opposite the pivotal mounting acam follower 103 which rides in the cam groove 104 of the rotary cam106. The engagement of the cam follower 103 with the cam track 104effects an oscillating pivotal movement of the arm 100 about the shaft102. Rigidly connected to arm 100 is actuator cam 108, and pivotallyconnected to arm 100 is linking arm 110, with arm 110 being pivotallyconnected to latch arm 112. A cam follower 111 is attached to linkingarm 110, and rides in another cam groove (not shown) on the oppositeside of rotary cam 106. Latch arm 112 is pivotally connected by linkage114 to arm 116, which is biased upwardly about the pivot shaft 102 bybiasing spring 118. To the end of arm 116 distal the pivot 102 isrigidly mounted blocking arm 117 (FIG. 5) in blocking engagement with atooth 120 projecting downwardly from the lowermost extremity of the arm80 which is pivotally mounted to shaft 50, and which is rigidly joinedto upper blade support 48 and carries the pivot shaft 87 supportinglower blade 82.

As shown most clearly in FIG. 3, a cross link 122 is pivotally mountedto the right-hand member 116' and slides in a slot 124 in left-handmember 116. This cross link 122 is connected by push rod 126 to anactuator 126, which suitably may be an air cylinder actuator, for movingthe cross link 122 back and forth within the slot. In FIG. 5 this crosslink 122 is shown in its rearward position within the slot 124, and inFIG. 6 it has been moved to its forward position within that slot. Withthe cross link 122 in the rearward position of FIG. 5, limitedcounterclockwise pivoting of the arm 108 under the influence of cam 106and cam follower arm 100 will cause the hooked portion at the outermostextremity of that member 108 simply to reciprocate in front of crosslink 122. However, when the cross link 122 has been moved to its forwardposition, as in FIG. 6, this limited counterclockwise movement of themember 108 about pivot 102, under the influence of the cam assembly 98,will cause the outermost end of that member 108 to force the cross link122 downwardly. Since cross link 122 is mounted to the arms 116 and116', such downward movement of the cross link 122 effects correspondingcounterclockwise (in FIG. 6) pivoting of the arms 116 and 116', whichare rigidly joined by a cross member 130. Such counterclockwise pivotingof the arm 116 moves the blocking arm 117 below and out of the way oftooth 120 at the lower end of arm 80. Thus, arm 80, supporting the lowerjaw assembly 24 and connected to upper jaw assembly 22 is permitted topivot counterclockwise (downwardly) about the pivot 50 away from upperstop 131 until it engages lower stop 132.

The pivoting of the arm 80 is effected by the hooking of boss 134,affixed to arm 80, by the hooked end portion of latching arm 112 andmovement of that arm 112 in a rearward and downward direction under theinfluence of rotary cam 106. This action is effected by the movement ofcam follower 111 on arm 110 within its track on cam 106, which trackeffects a clockwise pivoting of the arm 110 about pivot shaft 102, asillustrated in FIG. 6. At any time that blocking member 117 is moved outof engagement with tooth 120 on member 80, as illustrated in FIG. 6, theboss 134 is supported by engagement against the downwardly extendingrear surface 135 of the hook at the end of hooking member 112. Thus, asthe cam follower 111 is driven by its cam track (broken line) on cam 106both the member 110 and the link 114 will be pivoted to the rear, thusmoving the hooked end portion of hooking link 112 to the rear anddownwardly and capturing the boss 134 within the hook by the downwardpivoting of arm 116 which, through link 114, pulls arm 112 downwardlyalso, as illustrated in FIG. 6. This holding of the boss 134 both allowsthe lowering of the arm 80 and its associated blade assemblies bymovement of hook 112 and continues to hold it until the movement of camfollower 103 around its cam track permits the arm 116 and its blockingmember 117 to swing up in front of the blocking tooth 120 to latch thearm 80 and its blade assembly in their lowered position of FIG. 6.Further operation of this actuating apparaus will be described below.

The detailed description of the fruit gripping heads 18 and 20 and theirmethod of operation are described in detail in the above-referencedco-pending Silvestrini application. As noted above, these gripper heads18 and 20 are located adjacent the lower extremities of the pivotallymounted arms 12 and 14, respectively. When these arms 12 and 14 arepivotally moved toward one another, by the action of bell crank 32, thegripper heads are brought into coaxial engagement with the outersurfaces of a fruit presented to the pitter by feed arm 26. Thesegripper heads 18 and 20 thus grip the fruit on opposite sides of theplane defined by the blade assemblies 22 and 24, the suture of the fruitalso being oriented to lie generally in such plane. Sensing apparatus,generally indicated by the reference number 140 and corresponding tothat disclosed in my above-referenced co-pending application, senses thepresence or absence of a fruit when the gripper head assemblies areclosed toward one another, to prevent undesired inflation of thepneumatically controlled gripper cups 142 if no fruit is present.

When torque pitting is desired with this apparatus, the gripper heads 18and 20 are rotated about their common axis, which is substantiallynormal to the plane of the blades and the suture, by movement of theracks 144 and 146, which engage pinions 148 and 150 (not shown) whichare connected to the gripper heads 18 and 20, respectively. The racksare moved in a generally vertical direction by the oscillation of thebell crank 16 under the influence of crank 28 driven by the gear and camassembly 6.

Preferably, the various motions and operations of this apparatus arecontrolled by combination of cams and linkages and air cylinders, whichare illustrated schematically in FIG. 7, in which the various functionalcomponents are exploded for clarity of explanation. The manner ofoperation of this apparatus may be seen from the schematic diagram ofFIG. 7 and the timing diagram of FIG. 8 and is generally of thefollowing manner.

When a drupe, such as a peach, is to be presented by feed cup 26 to thisapparatus for pitting, it has previously been oriented and positioned inthe feeding cup 26 such that the suture or seam of the fruit liesgenerally in the same plane as the blades 46 and 82. Preferably, theblossom end of the fruit is presented first into this apparatus. At thistime the blade assemblies 22 and 24 are generally in the open positionindicated in FIG. 1 such that the fruit held in the feed cup 26 may beinserted between the blades. As previously noted, the edges 52 and 84 ofthe respective blades are sharpened, with the rear portions of theblades being provided with the pit gripping teeth 54 and 85. Thus, asthe fruit feeding arm and cup 26 pivots toward the jaw assembly, thefruit is inserted onto and received by the cutting edges 52 and 84 ofthe upper and lower blades 46 and 82, with those blades producing apartial cut in the pulp or meat of the fruit and with the feeder 26forcing the fruit to the rear of the opening between the jaws until thepit engages the upright rear portion of the lower blade and stopsfurther insertion. It may be noted from FIG. 1 that the feeding arm 26is provided with a slot so that the arm may straddle the upper and lowerblades as it inserts the fruit into the gap between the blades.

When the fruit has been fully inserted into the space between the upperand lower blades 46 and 82, the lower blade 82 is pivoted toward theupper blade 46 under the action of crank arm 94 and push rod 90, whichare driven by the gear and cam assembly 6. If the fruit has a sound pit,the pivoting of the lower jaw continues until the lower teeth 85 andupper teeth 54 engage and grip the pit of the fruit as illustrated inFIG. 9.

When the upper and lower blade 46 and 82 have closed, and thus grippedthe pit of the fruit to hold it against rotation, the sharpened edges 52and 84 of the blades have also at least partially cut through the pulpor meat of the fruit generally in the plane of the suture, thus definingtwo fruit halves which are adhered to the pit.

At substantially the same time as the closing of the jaws, driven by thegear and cam arrangement inside housing 6, that same gear and cam systemeffects a counterclockwise rotation of the bell crank 32. The motion ofbell crank 32 is thus transmitted through push rod assemblies 34 and 36to pivot the respective arms 12 and 14 about the frame mounted pivot 151from the position illustrated in FIG. 1 to that illustrated in thebroken line representation of FIG. 3. This pivotal movement of the arms12 and 14 thus brings the opposed gripper head assemblies 18 and 20 froma location distal the upper and lower blades to a position proximalthose blades, and on opposite sides of the blades and the plane definedthereby, so that the gripper heads 18 and 20 are positioned adjacent therespective fruit halves for gripping those fruit halves.

Generally in the manner described in detail in my co-pending applicationentitled "Improved Drupe Pitting Machine Having Apparatus for PreventingDeformation of the Fruit Gripping Structure When the Machine is OperatedWith no Fruit Present" the engagement of the fruit by the gripper head18 urges the actuating rod 152 outwardly, thus pivoting the arm 154clockwise and opening the normally closed air valve 156 to permitpressurized air into the line extending from that valve. Such air thenurges the bobbin of valve 160 toward the right in FIG. 7, such that thebobbin will move to the right when the cut-out portion of cam 162rotates past the valve 160 cam follower. This movement to the right ofthe valve 160 bobbin thus permits the introduction of pressurized airinto the line 164 extending to the gripper heads 18 and 20, such thatthe gripper diaphragms within those head assemblies may be inflated toresiliently grip the opposed fruit halves in the manner described indetail in the above-referenced Silvestrini patent application.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the engagement of the fruit pit between theteeth on the upper and lower blade stops further pivoting of the lowerblade 82 toward the upper blade and thus prevents actuating tab 166 fromdepressing the plunger and opening the normally closed valve 168. Thus,the pressure in the line caused by the opening of valve 156 may flowthrough normally closed valve 170 when it is momentarily opened by thebump on cam 172, but will be stopped at valve 168 for a fruit having asound pit. In this event, there will be no pressure to urge the bobbinof valve 174 to the right in FIG. 7. In such an event, there will be noair pressure from valve 168 to the left side of valve 174 to shift itfrom the leftward position (illustrated in FIG. 7) to which it had beenpreviously shifted by momentary opening of valve 176 and introduction ofpressurized air to the right side of valve 174. In this condition thepressurized air entering valve 174 flows through conduits 180 and 182 tohold both cylinders 128 and 44 in their rightward positions, asillustrated in FIG. 7.

With cylinder 128 in its rightward position, the cross link 122 is heldtoward the rear of slot 124. In this event, as arms 100 and 108 arepivoted counterclockwise under the influence of cam 106, the outerextremity of arm 108 will fall past the edge of the cross link 122 andcause no movement of the arm 116 or of blocking tooth 117. Thus, theupper blade assembly 24 will be held in its raised position.

By the urging of the piston of cylinder 44 to the right, as noted above,the pivotally mounted link 42 is pivoted in the clockwise direction sothat its cut-out engages the bosses 29 on crank arm 28, thus operativelylinking the arm 38 and downwardly projecting arm 52 connected to thebell crank 16 to the crank arm 28. Subsequent clockwise pivotal motionof the crank arm 28, by the gear and cam assembly 6 which also controlscams 106, 162, 172, and 178, will pull the arm 38 to the right, thuseffecting counterclockwise pivoting of the bell crank 16. Such movementraises rack 144 and lowers rack 146, thus driving their respectivepinions 148 and 150 in opposite directions. Since the pinions 148 and150 (not shown) are rigidly connected to rotatably mounted gripper heads18 and 20 respectively, this movement of the racks 144 and 146 thusrotates the gripper heads 18 and 20, which are gripping the opposedfruit body halves, in opposite directions to effect the torquingseparation of the two peach halves from one another and from the grippedpit in the well known manner.

By the time this separation of the peach body halves from the pit hastaken place, the cam 162 has rotated sufficiently to bring its highportion in contact with the cam follower of valve 160, thus againdriving it to the left, as indicated in FIG. 7. In this condition thepressurized air causing the diaphragms in the pit gripping heads 18 and20 to grip the fruit body halves is vented to the atmosphere, thusreleasing the grip of the gripper heads upon the peach body halves. Atthis time also the gear and cam assembly 6 causes the bell crank 32 torotate counterclockwise, thus moving the arms 12 and 14 and theirassociated gripper heads apart, to the position illustrated in FIG. 1.With the grip on the peach body halves released, this moving apart ofthe gripper heads thus permits the fruit body halves to fall free intosuitable collecting means. At this same time, the gear and cam assemblyurges crank arm 94 in a counterclockwise direction, thus urging push rod90 forward and pivoting the lower blade assembly 24 away from the upperblade and thus releasing the grip upon the fruit pit. The downwardmovement of the lower blade assembly 24 is necessarily accompanied bycounterclockwise rotation of the actuating arm 88, to which theelongated pit knocker 96 is attached. Thus, the movement of the lowerblade away from the upper blade will be accompanied by a sweepingmovement of the pit knocker 96 downwardly alongside the upper blade 46to knock loose any pit stuck in the pit gripping teeth 64 of the upperblade.

The foregoing sequence of events reflects the manner of pitting a fruithaving a sound pit. However, in operation, fruits having split pits maybe presented to this pitting apparatus intermingled with fruit havingsound pits. It is a feature of the present apparatus that either type offruit may be pitted in any sequence without modification to theapparatus. The manner of sensing and pitting a fruit having a split pitis generally as follows.

Fruit having a split pit is presented to this pitting apparatus in thesame manner as fruit having sound pits, with the feeder 26 forcing thefruit between the upper and lower blades 46 and 82, which are spacedapart. The lower blade is pivoted toward the upper blade in the mannerdescribed above, and the gripper heads detect the presence of fruitbetween them and grip and engage the fruit also as described above.However, the presence of a split pit within the fruit will permit thelower blade to continue pivoting toward the upper blade between thehalves of the split pit and without being stopped by engagement with asound pit. Thus, under the urging of crank arm 94 and push rod 90 thelower blade assembly will over-rotate as shown in FIG. 5 to bringcutting edges 52 and 84 together and bring the actuating finger 166 intoengagement with normally closed valve 168 and open that valve. Thus,pressurized air will be in the line between valve 168 and valve 174 whenthe bump on cam 172 opens valve 170.

With pressurized air bearing against the left side of the bobbin ofvalve 174, this bobbin will be driven to the right. Upon this movementof the valve 174 bobbin to the right pressurized air will be provided toconduits 184 and 186, thus driving the pistons of air cylinders 128 and44 to the left.

When the piston of cylinder 44 is driven to the left, the pivotallymounted link 42 will be swung upwardly, disengaging it from the boss 29on crank 28. This upward pivoting will also bring pin 188 on link 42 upinto the arcuate slot 190 of member 192, which is rigidly affixed to thepitting apparatus chassis. By the engagement between the pin 188 of link42 and the member 192 affixed to the apparatus chassis, the link 38 issecured against any movement relative to the chassis. Thus, thisengagement serves to secure the bell crank 16 against any rotatingmovement, preventing any relative movement of the racks 144 and 146, sothat there will be substantially no torquing rotation of the pitgripping heads 18 and 20 and maintaining the fruit body halvesstationary during the pitting of such a split pit fruit.

By the provision of pressurized air to line 184, the piston of cylinder128 is driven to the left, thus moving cross link 122 to the forward endof slot 124 on arm 116. With the cross link in this position, the member108 will butt against the cross link 122 when urged counterclockwise bythe cam 106, thus pivoting the arm 116 downwardly and moving theblocking member 117 out of the way of tooth 120 while pulling latchingarm 112 down to catch boss 134, as illustrated in FIG. 6. In this eventboth the upper and lower jaw assemblies, which are pivotally mounted topivot shaft 50, may pivot downwardly being pulled by latching arm 112,moving the cutting edges 52 and 84 and pit-gripping teeth 54 and 85through the fruit and away from the split pit to a position remotetherefrom. This movement continues until the arm 80 engages the stop132. This stop is so positioned to bring the coring spoon aperture inupper blade 46 into position adjacent the split pit of the grippedfruit, shown in phantom in FIG. 6. During this movement the thin,U-shaped coring spoon 60, which preferably is no wider than thethickness of the upper blade 46, is effectively shrouded by that bladeso that there is no damage to the fruit during the movement of the bladeassemblies and coring spoon through the fruit.

When the aperture of blade 46, and thus the coring spoon 60, have beenbrought from their position distal the split pit of the fruit (FIG. 5)to the position of FIG. 6 adjacent the split pit, the rotary actuator 78and its housing 72, which are mounted to the upper blade support 48 ispivoted from the solid line position of FIG. 4 to the broken lineposition in that figure. This upward pivoting of the rotary actuator 78and its associated housing 72 thus brings the housing 72 into engagementwith valve 194, opening that valve and allowing a supply of pressurizedair to pass therethrough. This supply of pressurized air thus drivesvalve 196 (FIG. 7) to the right, supplying pressurized air to theconduit 198 leading to rotary actuator 78. This air thus effects a rapidrotation, of the rotary actuator 78, thus rotating the coring spoon 60through a complete revolution about the axis defined by the shafts 58and 62 which axis extends generally through both blossom end and stemend of the fruit, the rotation of the coring spoon 60 defining acomplete body of revolution. This rotation of coring spoon 60, alone,effectively cuts a core, including the split pit, from the fruit body,such core corresponding to the body of revolution described by rotationof the coring spoon 60. During this coring operation the bladeassemblies have been latched in place first by engagement between thehooked end portion of member 112 and the boss 134 on arm 80 and then bythe engagement between the blocking member 117 and the tooth 120 at thelower end of arm 80.

Upon completion of the core cutting rotation of the coring spoon 60, theaction of the cam assembly will release the grip of the gripper head onthe fruit body halves and move the gripper heads away from the fruit torelease the cored fruit halves, in the manner described above.

The continued rotation of cam 106, along with the other rotarycomponents of the apparatus, will bring the second high lobe of the cam106 into engagement with the cam follower of arm 100 to effectcounterclockwise pivoting of the member 108 and thus of the arm 116 withits blocking portion 117. Such pivoting will again move the blocking arm117 to a lowered position, releasing its engagement with the tooth 120of member 80. The other track of cam 106 will at that time begin urgingthe cam follower 111 of member 110 to pivot in a counterclockwisedirection in FIGS. 5 and 6, thus urging the latching member 112 forwardand, by its engagement with surface 135, necessarily driving the boss134 on member 80 forward as well. By this forward motion the member 80will be pivoted in a clockwise direction about pivot shaft 50, thusraising and restoring the blade assemblies 22 and 24 to their originalraised position against fixed stop 131, illustrated in FIG. 5. Suchpivotal movement of the member 80 will also swing the rotary actuator 78downwardly, away from its position engaging and actuating valve 194 toits lower position, engaging and actuating valve 200 (FIGS. 4 and 7).Upon the opening of valve 200 pressurized air will then flow through theline to the pilot on the right hand side of valve 196, again driving itto the left hand position illustrated in FIG. 7. In this position thepressurized air is vented from line 198 and is introduced to line 202,thus effecting a "unwinding" rotation of the actuator 78 and thus spoon60, restoring it to its original position which it assumed before itscorecutting rotation. Such "unwinding" rotation of the spoon 60 willserve not only to restore the spoon to its original alignment within theaperture of blade 46 but also will serve to eject the pit-carrying coreso that it may fall free into a suitable receptacle.

With the blade assemblies again raised to their upper position,counterclockwise pivoting of the crank arm 94 will move the push rod 90forward and pivot the lower jaw assembly 24 to its open position,illustrated in FIG. 4, whereupon the entire pitting and feedingoperation described above may be repeated.

It may be noted that the raised lobe on cam 178 is positioned later inthe cycle from the raised lobe on cam 172. Thus, after any actuation ofvalve 170 by cam 172, moving the valve 174 bobbin to the right, theraised lobe on cam 178 will momentarily open valve 176. This opening ofvalve 176 will introduce pressurized air to the right-hand side of valve174 and again drive it toward the left-hand position illustrated in FIG.7. In this condition pressurized air will be supplied through valve 174to conduits 180 and 182, maintaining the apparatus in the configurationillustrated in FIG. 7 unless pressurized air is supplied through valves170 and 168 to the left-hand side of valve 174. The raised lobe on cam172 which opens valve 170 is positioned to coincide with the early partof the closing of valve 168 so that pressurized air is provided to valve168 only during that relatively brief portion of the operating cycle ofthis apparatus. Accordingly, unless the blade 82 moves into the spacebetween the halves of a split pit at this time, before any rotation ofthe gripper heads 18 and 20, the valve system will not permit air toflow into lines 184 and 186. The result of this requirement is that theabove-described spoon pitting operation, in which the bell crank 16 islocked in position, is provided only if the split pit is detected nearthe beginning of the cycle and before any movement of bell crank 16 andthus any rotation of the fruit body gripper heads 18 and 20. Thus, ifthe pit gripping teeth 54 and 85 of the blades 46 and 82 momentarilyengage and grip the edges of an apparently sound pit and then at somesubsequent time, such as during rotation of the gripper heads 18 and 20,move past the pit gripping position between the halves of the pit,indicating that it has split, the blade and coring spoon shifting andactuating apparatus will be disabled and not brought into action. Thisprovision necessarily will result in the torque pitting and splittingwithout removal of a certain number of unsound pits although the numberof such split and non-removed pits will be relatively small.

While the foregoing describes a preferred embodiment of the apparatus ofthis invention, it is to be recognized that numerous variations andmodifications of this apparatus, all within the scope of the presentinvention, will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Thus, theforegoing description is intended to be illustrative only of theprinciples of this invention and is not to be considered limitativethereof, the scope of this invention being defined solely by the claimsappended hereto and including all equivalents to the claim structure.

What is claimed is:
 1. Apparatus for bisecting and pitting fruit of thedrupe type, comprisinga pair of generally coplanar body-bisecting bladeshaving opposed cutting edges; means for supporting said blades toreceive such a fruit and, upon said fruit being positioned between saidblades with its suture generally in said plane, for moving one bladetoward the other in said plane to engage said pit in either a firstposition in which said blades are in gripping relation to a sound pit orpast said first position to a second position with at least one saidblade within a split pit; fruit gripping means disposed adjacentopposite sides of said plane and supported for movement into coaxialgripping relation with the halves of a fruit, the body of which isbisected by said blades and the pit of which is engaged by said blades,and means for so moving said gripping cups and for rotating them abouttheir mutual axis upon the gripping engagement of a sound pit by saidblades for shearing said fruit halves from said sound pit; a generallyU-shaped coring spoon mounted to one of said blades for rotation aboutan axis extending transverse to the legs of the U, said coring spoonbeing dimensioned such that rotation about said transversely extendingaxis will describe a body of revolution at least as large as said pit;means responsive to the movement of said one blade to said secondposition for shifting said blades and said coring spoon from said secondposition, in which said coring spoon is remote from said pit, to a thirdposition in which said blade cutting edges are remote from said pit andin which said coring spoon is adjacent said gripped fruit halves andextending adjacent a portion of said pit; and coring spoon actuatingmeans operatively connected to said coring spoon for rotating saidcoring spoon about said spoon axis of rotation when said blades and saidcoring spoon are shifted to said third position, whereby rotation of thecoring spoon will cut the split pit from the fruit halves.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein said coring spoon is mounted within anaperture extending through one of said blades, whereby the blade servesto shroud the coring spoon as the blade and spoon are shifted throughthe fruit to the third position.
 3. In apparatus for pitting fruits ofthe drupe type wherein fruit-bisecting blades having pit gripping meansassociated therewith move relatively toward each other in substantiallythe suture plane of the fruit to substantially bisect the fruit to itspit, said pit gripping means grip the edges of a sound pit and hold saidpit against rotation, and thereafter fruit gripping means grip androtate the fruit halves relative to the held sound pit to shear saidfruit halves from said sound pit, the improvement comprisinga coringspoon mounted within an aperture through one of said blades for rotationabout an axis extending through said coring spoon, said aperture andcoring spoon being spaced from said pit gripping means and said coringspoon being dimensioned such that rotation of said coring spoon aloneabout said axis describes a complete body of revolution at least aslarge as said pit; said blades and said coring spoon being mounted formovement between a torque pitting position, in which pit gripping meansengages and grips a sound pit and said coring spoon is remote from saidpit, and a spoon pitting position in which said coring spoon is adjacentsaid pit and said pit gripping means are remote from said pit; andmeans, responsive to the movement of one of said pit gripping means pastthe edges of a split pit, for moving said blades and said coring spoonfrom said torque pitting position to said spoon pitting position,whereby, upon rotation of said coring spoon alone about its axis ofrotation, the coring spoon will cut a core corresponding to said body ofrevolution and including the split pit from the fruit halves. 4.Apparatus for bisecting and pitting fruit of the drupe type, comprisingapair of generally coplanar body-bisecting blades having opposed cuttingedges; means for supporting said blades to receive such a fruit and,upon said fruit being positioned between said blades with its suturegenerally in said plane, for moving one blade toward the other in saidplane partially through said fruit to engage said pit in either a firstposition in which said blades are in gripping relation to a sound pit orpast said first position to a second position with at least one saidblade within a split pit; fruit gripping means disposed adjacentopposite sides of said plane and supported for movement into coaxialgripping relation with the halves of a fruit, the body of which isbisected by said blades and the pit of which is engaged by said blades,said means for so moving said gripping cups and for rotating them abouttheir mutual axis upon the gripping engagement of a sound pit by saidblades for shearing said fruit halves from said sound pit; a coringspoon mounted to one of said blades for rotation about an axis extendingthrough said coring spoon, said coring spoon being dimensioned such thatsaid rotation about said axis will describe a body of revolution atleast as large as said pit, and said coring spoon being mounted withinan aperture which extends through said blade and which is spaced fromsaid blade cutting edge, whereby the blade portion between the cuttingedge and the aperture serves to shroud the coring spoon during movementof the blade through the fruit; means responsive to the movement of saidone blade to said second position for shifting said blades and saidcoring spoon from said second position, in which said coring spoon isremote from said pit, to a third position in which said blade cuttingedges are remote from said pit and in which said blade aperture andcoring spoon are adjacent said gripped fruit halves and adjacent aportion of said pit; and coring spoon actuating means operativelyconnected to said coring spoon for rotating said coring spoon about saidspoon axis of rotation when said blades and said coring spoon areshifted to said third position, whereby rotation of the coring spoonwill cut the split pit from the fruit halves.
 5. The apparatus of claim4 further comprising means for disabling said rotation of said fruitgripping means upon the sensing of a split pit, whereby the halves of afruit having a split pit may be held substantially stationary during theoperation of the coring spoon to cut a split pit from the fruit halves.6. The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising means for automaticallydisabling said blade and coring spoon shifting means if no split pit isdetected prior to the initiation of rotation of said fruit-grippingcups.
 7. The improvement of claim 6 further comprising means fordisabling rotation of said fruit gripping means in response to saidmovement of one of said pit gripping means past the edges of a splitpit.
 8. The improvement of claim 6 further comprising means fordisabling said responsive blade and coring spoon moving means upon themovement of said pit gripping means past the edges of a split pit unlesssaid movement of said pit gripping means occurs prior to the initiationof rotation of said pit gripping means.